Ivan Shishkin (1898) Mast tree grove [oil on canvas]. St. Petersburg, Russia: The State Russian Museum.
“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.”
-John Muir
John Muir (1838 – 1914) is counted among the greatest naturalists. He – born in Dunbar, East-Lothian, Scotland – was an early advocate of the preservation of wilderness.
Margaret Wise Brown (author), Leonard Weisgard (illustrator) (1950) The Dark Wood of the Golden Birds. New York City: Harper & Brothers.
“As they listened, they began to understand the lives of the Forest, apart from themselves, indeed to feel themselves as the strangers where all other things were at home. […] Tom’s words laid bare the hearts of trees and their thoughts, which were dark and strange, and filled with a hatred of things that go free upon the earth, gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning: destroyers and usurpers.
It was not called the Old Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten woods; and in there lived yet, ageing no quicker than the hills, the fathers of the fathers of trees, remembering times when they were lords. The countless years had filled them with pride and rooted wisdom, and with malice.”
Bibliography
Tolkien, J. (2014) The Fellowship of the Ring [The Lord of the Rings, part 1, ed. 60]. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Every day I read a million news articles, I listen to a million talk shows, I watch a million documentairies, I scan a million scientific publications, I receive a million social media messages, I think about a million promises by our leaders, I see a million best pictures, I learn about a million frameworks, methods and models, I see a million pictures of happy people at a million conferences with a million of flowers, certificates, honours and medals, I cry a million tears for them dying from poverty and hunger, I wonder about a million leafs falling again and again and I keep a million hopes alive.
I sit quietly beside Frodo on the floor of the deep forest after Galadriel has left us. I listen to a million echoes around me and just wonder about the world and what to do next.
Through woven woods in Elvenhome
She lightly fled on dancing feet,
And left him lonely still to roam
In the silent forest listening.
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
Picture: Kruf, J.P. (2019) Snow Forest [fine are print]. Breda: Private collection.
© Jack Kruf (2014). Het Bosberaad [fine art print]. Breda: Private collection.
Dit groepje bomen is over van wat eens een groot en vooral wijs bos was. Een verlaten groepje dat mijn aandacht trok. Zij zijn de laatst overgeblevenen, restanten en als zodanig onderdeel van een (zwaar uitgedund) bosberaad.
De bomen spraken over hoe zij nu toch definitief het pad wilden terugvinden naar waar zij thuishoorden, het bos, hun bos. Een verwoede poging, zo meende ik te ontwaren. Protest ook.
Ik liep even naast Frodo en Sam in het Oude Bos en droomde over de trots en gewortelde wijsheid van de bomen:
“As they listened, they began to understand the lives of the Forest, apart from themselves, indeed to feel themselves as the strangers where all other things were at home. […] Tom’s words laid bare the hearts of trees and their thoughts, which were dark and strange, and filled with a hatred of things that go free upon the earth, gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning: destroyers and usurpers. It was not called the Old Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten woods; and in there lived yet, ageing no quicker than the hills, the fathers of the fathers of trees, remembering times when they were lords. The countless years had filled them with pride and rooted wisdom, and with malice.”
– Tolkien (1954)
Ik breng een stille ode aan dit bosberaad.
John Muir:
“The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.”
Natuurvorser Muir pleit in zijn omvangrijke onderzoek én inspanningen voor de bescherming van natuurgebieden voor begrip en respect voor de complexiteit van ecosystemen.
Jack Kruf 